London's Pulse: Medical Officer of Health reports 1848-1972
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Hints from the Health Department. Leaflet from the archive of the Society of Medical Officers of Health. Credit: Wellcome Collection, London
Camden 1967
[Report of the Medical Officer of Health for Camden]
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PRIORITY DENTAL SERVICES
Mr. G.P. Mailer, Chief Dental Officer, reports as follows:-
15.1.1 Under Section 22 of the National Service Health Act 1946 dental services are
provided by local health authorities for expectant and nursing mothers and children under
5 years of age. As a new departure, the maternity and child welfare and school dental
service patients attended in 1967 the same sessions instead of being seen at separate
sessions according to category as hitherto. This arrangement means that a pre-school
child can be seen on the same day as an older sibling and perhaps even the mother as
well. Owing to the particular conditions appertaining to the Inner London Boroughs and
the Inner London Education Authority, the system does produce a certain difficulty for
accounting purposes in the allocation of sessions to the school dental service or to the
maternity and child welfare priority dental service. Agreement has been reached with the
Education Authority on the correct assessment. Prom the patient's point of view, however,
the experiment was so successful that these mixed sessions are now an established
routine.
15.1.2 The inspection of children in the Council's nurseries has been continued — to
the delight of the children. It is proving a very useful introduction to the dentist.
15.1.3 During 1967 the services were inspected by the Ministry of Health, who commended
the Council on its priority dental services.
15.2 The figures for the years 1965 to 1968 were as follows:-
(an * denotes that no comparable figure was available)
| Under 5's | Mothers | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | |
| No. treated (first visits) | 49 | 170 | 214 | 107 | • | 40 | 30 | 28 |
| No. of subsequent visits | • | • | 578 | 301 | • | • | 91 | 66 |
| Emergencies | - | 8 | - | - | - | 4 | - | - |
| Teeth filled | 222 | 360 | 430 | 278 | 133 | 100 | 59 | 29 |
| Teeth extracted | 4 | 2 | 4 | 42 | 8 | 19 | 11 | 21 |
| Patients X-rayed | * | • | 2 | 1 | • | * | 20 | 22 |
| Patients treated by scaling or removal of stains from teeth | • | * | 3 | 13 | • | • | 24 | 18 |
| Teeth otherwise conserved, e.g. by application of silver, nitrate/topical fluoride | • | • | 166 | 291 | * | • | - | - |
15.3 The clinical expertise of my colleague, Mr. Mailer, is recognised and respected
throughout the service which he leads and I am grateful for his support.
SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICE 1967
INTRODUCTION
16.1 The Inner London Education Authority is responsible for the school health
service but by virtue of an agreement required by Section 32 of the London Government
Act, 1963, there is joint use by the Authority and the Borough of professional staff,
premises and equipment. The Medical Officer of Health is the Principal School Medical
Officer of the Inner London Education Authority for the area and in that capacity exercises
local responsibility for the administration of the school health service in the London
Borough of Camden. This report is a copy of the document submitted to the Inner London
Education Authority by the Medical Officer of Health in his capacity as Principal School
Medical Officer.
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